well, just in to us. earlier we were tell you it's expected that general petraeus, david petraeus would testify at some point before congress. well, four we have gotten definitive word. we now know that he will, indeed, testify before congress this friday, that is the plan, just in to fox news moments ago. well, as we reported earlier this hour, president obama today defended his plan to allow some the bush era tax cuts to expire for the wealthiest americans. they are all going to expire. and if someone doesn't want them to, the president has a veto pen. so really that's it. in a news conference, the president said he is still willing to compromise with republicans. >> i have been encouraged over the past week to hear republic after republic agree on the need for more revenue from the wealthiest measures as part of our arithmetic if we are going to be serious about reducing the deficit. >> shepard: remember, we are set to fall right off that fiscal cliff they keep beating us in the head with at the end of